Scratchcards fraud uncovered in Rome with €25 million in assets seized

Italian authorities have uncovered a suspected fraud scheme involving Gratta e Vinci scratchcards, a popular lottery game, leading to the seizure of over €25 million ($27.98 million) in assets from five former employees of a gaming concessionaire. 

The investigation was conducted by the Guardia di Finanza this week. 

While the concessionaire company itself faced no accusations, prosecutors allege that these five individuals exploited privileged system access to identify winning tickets in advance, effectively bypassing the game’s intended randomness.

An alleged family affair

According to reports from La Stampa, the five former employees allegedly identified four winning scratchcards ahead of their distribution to the public. Two of these tickets reportedly held prizes of €7 million each, while the other two were worth €5 million apiece. 

The accused are said to have used confidential credentials to access and manipulate the gaming company’s servers, allowing them to inspect or alter data, thus pinpointing winning tickets before retail sale.

The scheme allegedly involved a broader network whereby the identified winning tickets were purchased by friends and relatives from multiple retail outlets across Italy. This distribution strategy was purportedly designed to obscure the fraudulent origin of the tickets and complicate traceability. 

The Guardia di Finanza characterised the seizure as a measure to safeguard public finances by recovering assets linked to the alleged damage caused by the fraud.

Assets seized include 25 properties, numerous vehicles and various financial holdings connected to the suspects.

The regulatory problem 

The regulatory landscape in Italy has been a checkered one this year. The trade body EGP-FIPE warned the Senate in June that the gambling sector is currently trapped in a “regulatory deadlock” that threatens to expand unregulated gambling activities in the country.  

It argued the absence of a cohesive national reform framework had left the sector “frozen”, impeding effective network planning and weakening protective measures aimed at problem gambling. 

The court will soon determine whether to uphold, modify, or lift the asset seizures. The measure aims to secure potential restitution for the financial damage attributed to the Italian Revenue Agency while the ongoing criminal and accounting investigations continue.

The five former employees currently under investigation face multiple charges linked to the fraud, as authorities intensify efforts to ensure integrity within Italy’s lottery and gaming sectors.